The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee has provided a financial boost for a Staffordshire pottery firm which is on target to double its predicted sales.

Stoke-on-Trent ceramics firm Emma Bridgewater has sold £1.5 million worth of commemorative ware off the back of the celebrations.

Demand has already far outstripped last year’s Royal Wedding sales after leading stockist of Emma Bridgewater ware John Lewis increased its order fourfold, with an exclusive Sixty Years A Queen half-pint mug expected to be one of the biggest sellers.

In addition, Fortnum & Mason has increased its original order by six times as much as original plan while Harrods has committed to an order which is seven times larger than its total Royal wedding purchases of Emma Bridgewater ware.

Emma Bridgewater expects to make in excess of 200,000 pieces of Diamond Jubilee ware, including more than 50,000 of their distinctively shaped half-pint mugs.

The great British passion for commemorative tea-towels is also proving popular with sales expected to top 75,000. The two tea-towels bear the emblems “Steadfast and True”, and “Sixty Years a Queen”.

The company said more than 120 potters and decorators are working full-time on fulfilling orders for commemorative mugs, plates, cake stands and a crown dish.

Retailing at £100 the impressive crown shape lidded dish was predicted to sell just 300, but already 1,000 have been sold and production has been stepped up to meet the unexpected demand. Co-owner Matthew Rice said: “Emma and I are both fiercely patriotic and have created commemorative ware for every Royal occasion for the past 25 years.

“However, we have never seen demand such as that we’re experiencing for our Jubilee range.

“It may well be that our designs have captured the public’s imagination, especially the extravagant crown dish. Our designs are bold and jolly and couldn’t be further from the traditional filigree gilt and swags normally associated with ceramic memorabilia. This is simply what we and, more importantly, our customers like.

“Britain has marked its national rites of passage in china for two centuries. Almost all of this has been made in Stoke-on-Trent and we are so proud to be part of that tradition.”

Further special edition pieces – such as a Thames Flotilla half pint mug – are also now in the final stages of production and will be unveiled soon.